02 December 2011

Sepia Saturday 103: The Best Medicine - New Clues!

Mira Rockwell (Main) Stratton, ca 1900

Perhaps not surprisingly given the long line of medical doctors, there has also been a long history of wives who worked in medicine. At a large gathering of extended family, my brother-in-law commented that it was a bit like attending a medical convention!

I would relate Mira's December entries from her Line-a-Day diary but, she was a diarist after my own heart. Entries stop on 21 September 1913 and in 1914, on 6 August. On 1 January 1923 she resumes with "8 years since I left writing in a Line A Day ...." Her last entry is January 2. So much for New Year's resolutions.... I'll have to remember not to make any resolutions to write a blog a day!

The genealogist in me jumped for joy when perusing the diary. Not only does Mira include notations of visits by aunties and letters from family; she included in her Memoranda a list of birthdays! It just doesn't get any better than that. (Unless you want to shoot for the moon and wish that she had included the year as well.) The clues to determine Mira's paternal grandparents might be waiting to be discovered in the pages of her diary. Thank you Mira for the best medicine ever!

Mira Rockwell (Main) Stratton
(19 May 1881- 2 December 1926)

This is a Sepia Saturday post on the theme of nurses or anything else inspired by the photograph. To see more wonderful nurses or other cathartic takes on the theme, see Sepia Saturday 103.

She is a handsome lady in that nurse's uniform. How does anyone today have time to keep a diary with so much time taken up with blogging and commenting.I use a diary every day but knowing I play golf twice a week is hardly earth-shattering.Neverthless you have got your hands on a diary of importance to you and your family.

Loved it. If my great great grandchildren ever come across my old diaries they will equally find them filled in with great detail for the first few days of January and then abandoned after that. It is why I started my blog in November - to avoid the mid-January hiatus. An amazing photograph, a great post. Keep it going!

Tony, Kathy, Bob, Sheila and Alan, I couldn't resist and read her diary yesterday. One of the more interesting diaries I've read. I loved reading about the plays, performances and books she had read. In the end, a real cliff-hanger. I find myself wishing for more.

Jo, Postcardy - She mentions being fitted for corsets so there goes the mystery of what was under the uniform. Mira really is lovely in her uniform. I was amazed to learn how much time she spent sewing and repairing clothes!

Hi Anna, I plan to post the family lines on other pages of the blog soon so that all the connections will be clear. Mira was Gramp's and Auntie Tish's mother. I've been meaning to add some pages with the genealogy to show the connections. I always want to dot one more 'i' and cross one more 't' first! Both Mira and her mother Phoebe died of heart disease. Take a heart aspirin a day!